The teams with the two best records in baseball, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, open a four-game series Thursday, with both teams suffering through significant injures.

The teams with the two best records in baseball, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, open a four-game series Thursday, with both teams suffering through significant injures.

The teams with the two best records in Major League Baseball — the Boston Red Sox at 75-34 and New York Yankees at 68-38, putting them 5 1/2 games behind Boston in the American League East — bring their historic rivalry to Boston on Thursday for the opening contest of a crucial four-game set that could go a long way toward determining which of the two dominant franchises wins the division, and which will face a one-game Wild Card all-or-nothing playoff, in a Thursday night game that will live stream from Fenway Park.

But both the Yankees and Red Sox come into the make-or-break series suffering from injuries to superstar performers, both of whom will miss the four-game series that runs through Sunday night. For Boston, Cy Young candidate and seven-time All Star lefty starting pitcher Chris Sale was placed on the 10-day disabled list Tuesday with what the Red Sox are calling “mild” left shoulder inflammation, according to MassLive.

Sale at 11-4 leads the AL with a 2.04 ERA and 207 strikeouts in 141 innings, per Baseball Reference. His ratio of 6.273 Ks for every walk places him third in baseball as well. The Red Sox say that they hope Sale will make his return on Wednesday of next week, when Boston travels to Toronto to face the Blue Jays. But the 29-year-old who started his third consecutive All-Star Game this year will not see the mound against the Yankees.

To find out how to watch a free live stream of the New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox Thursday Major League Baseball rivalry clash in Boston, see the streaming information at the bottom of this article. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time at 37,700-seat Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, or 4 p.m. Pacific Time.

For the Yankees, 26-year-old slugger Aaron Judge will not only miss the four-game duel in Boston, but is expected to miss the next three weeks, according to the New York Times, thanks to a minor fracture of his right wrist. Combined with the absence of power-hitting catcher Gary Sanchez, expected to sit until the end of August with a strained groin muscle, that’s 40 home runs taken out of the Yankees lineup between the pair.

The Yankees also aqcuired pitcher J.A. Happ from the Toronto Blue Jays shortly before the trade deadline, specifically because Happ has pitched well against Boston, according to the New York Post. Of the Red Sox regulars, only new acquisitions Ian Kinsler and Steve Pearce sport batting averages against Happ of over.300, according to Fox Sports. But Happ is now on the disabled list as well with a viral illness, and will miss the Red Sox series.

Cable or satellite subscribers can watch a live stream of the game via the MLB Network, which features the game on its MLB Showcase telecast and online stream. But fans can also watch the crucial early August New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox showdown stream live for free without a cable subscription. To do so, fans should sign up for a free trial of an “over the top” streaming TV package, such as DirecTV Now, Sling TV, or YouTube TV. All of those services require credit card information and subscription fees — but each offers a seven-day free preview, and if the subscription is canceled prior to the expiration of that weeklong period, fans can watch the Yankees vs. Red Sox game live stream for free.

As always, fans who want to subscribe to the MLB.TV service can also watch a live stream of the game. MLB is offering a late-season price of $49.99 for all games until the end of the regular season, or $39.99 for all games played by a single team.